Among the scattered colonial descriptions of Chachapoyas, almost all thechroniclers commented on the beauty and white skin of the women. Even Father Calancha succumbed to their beauty, noting, “These are the whitest and most graceful Indians in all the Indies, and the women are the most beautiful.”
Cieza, a usually levelheaded observer, mentions the whiteness of Chachapoya women’s skin three times in his brief description of Chachapoyas. “These Chachapoyas Indians are the whitest and most attractive I have seen anywhere I have been in the Indies, and their women were so beautiful that many of them were chosen to be the wives of the Inkas and the vestals of the temples.”
Although he did not visit the region, Cieza saw Chachapoya people in Cusco,where, according to Calancha, they lived in the Karmenka district. Aside from the fact that sixteenth century Spaniards obviously regarded white skin as a sign of beauty, there is no evidence that the Chachapoya were descended from colonists who had sailed across the Atlantic and up the Amazon, as explorer Gene Savoy has suggested.
Studies of pre-Inka Chachapoya skeletal remains from Salsipuedes and other burial sites indicate that the Chachapoya were of Andean stock but, on average, taller than their contemporaries in other parts of ancient Peru (1.59 meters for men and 1.46 meters for women). Analysis of the skeletal remains from Los Pinchudos confirms the trend.
When a Spaniard says someone is "white" it may not mean quite the same thing as when a Norwegian says it.
One text (sorry, no cite right now) I read a long time ago said there were visitors whose hair grew the wrong way on their faces... possibly bearded, bald Ainu.